Buyer to pay, seller to collect
tax--Statement of tax--Exception--Penalties.

82.32.060

1992

Excess payment of tax, penalty,
or interest-Credit or refund-Payment of judgments for refund.

ETA:

3106.2009

2/2/09

Refunds of over collected retail sales tax

299.32.229

12/16/66

RETAIL SALES TAX REFUNDS This advisory explains that a seller is not entitled to a refund of improperly collected sales tax unless the seller has first refunded the tax to the customer, and that the customer must secure a refund of tax overpayment from the seller. Cancelled effective 6/30/04. Subject matter is discussed in rule WAC 229. Additionally, ETA 299 explanation that both the seller and the customer have two years to seek a refund of sales taxes is incorrect. Rule 229 correctly notes that the statutory period for claiming a refund is four years after the close of the tax year in which the tax was paid.

REFUNDS, CREDITS AND OFFSETS --
NONCLAIM PERIOD -- PROPER AMOUNT DUE -- ADDITIONAL TAXES DUE. In order to
determine whether additional taxes are due under RCW 82.32.050, any amounts
earlier overpaid but now barred by the nonclaim period are not considered in
the determination of the proper amount due. Guy F.
Atkinson & Co and Puget Sound Power & Light Co.distinguished.

1 WTD 1

85-164A

REFUNDS, CREDITS AND OFFSETS --
NONCLAIM PERIOD. Under the current version of RCW 82.32.050 and 82.32.060,
offsets or their economic equivalence are no longer permitted. Guy F.
Atkinson & Co and Puget Sound Power & Light Co.distinguished.

2 WTD 127

87-4

RETAIL SALES TAX -- REFUND --
SELLER TO COLLECT TAX -- ETB 132. RCW 82.32.050 imposes a duty upon each
seller to collect the retail sales tax from the buyer. Seller not entitled to
a refund of sales tax that had been remitted to the Department because buyer
was refusing to pay seller the tax that was due.

3 WTD 435

84-256

RETAIL
SALES TAX -- CREDIT -- REFUND -- NONCLAIM PERIOD -- PAYMENT OF ASSESSMENT
WITHIN FOUR YEARS. The language of RCW 82.32.060 does not mandate a netting
of all individual excise taxes coming under the purview of Title 82 RCW
before determining the amount of any overpayment which may have been made
within nonclaim period. The use of the article "a" modifying
"'tax" mandates that taxes which have been "overpaid" be
calculated on a "tax by tax" basis, without regard to any erroneous
overpayments of other individual taxes.

4 WTD 197

49WNAPP532

SALES TAX -- REFUND -- SELLER'S
STATUS. A seller receives a sales tax refund as a trustee of the buyer and
may not benefit it from it. RCW 82.08.050.

4 WTD 197

49WNAPP532

EXCISE TAX -- INTEREST RATE --
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UNDERPAYMENT AND REFUND -- VALIDITY. The fact that the
interest rate on an excise tax delinquency under RCW 82.32.050 is greater
than the interest rate paid on an excise tax refund under RCW 82.32.060 does
not violate a taxpayer's equal protection rights.

5 WTD 93

88-40

B & OREFUNDS - SELF HELP - PENALTY -EVASION.
There is no statutory authority for self help refunds. Where a taxpayer
willfully withholds any properly due excise taxes (such as B&O taxes or
collected retail sales taxes) under an unverified claim that the taxpayer is
entitled to a refund, without first having followed the Legislature's
prescribed procedure for refunds, then the evasion penalty shall apply.
F.I.D.

7 WTD 11

88-383

REFUND -- NON-CLAIM PERIOD. The
Department of Revenue does not have authority to grant a credit or refund of
taxes paid in error unless the request is made within the statutory time
period. Guy F. Atkinson Co. v. State, cited.

7 WTD 303

89-212

REFUNDS, CREDITS AND OFFSETS --
NONCLAIM PERIOD -- STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS WAIVER AGREEMENT. Refund claim made
in 1989 for taxes paid in 1983 is barred by RCW 82.32.060. No exception made
because taxpayer had executed a Statute of Limitations Waiver Agreement for
1983.

8 WTD 149

89-389

REFUNDS -- CREDITS -- NONCLAIM
PERIOD -- "EXAMINATION OF RECORDS" CONSTRUED. An "examination
of records," as used in RCW 82.32.060 pertains solely to the audit
function, and is complete when an assessment is issued.

9 WTD 286-69

80-175

REFUNDS -- CREDITS -- FOUR YEAR
LIMITATION -- SALES TAXES PAID BEYOND FOUR YEAR LIMITATION. No refund or
credit may be made for taxes paid more than four years prior to the beginning
of the calendar year in which the refund or credit is sought, or examination
of records by the Department is completed. Where Department assessed an
unregistered taxpayer beyond the four year limitation, any overpayment or
incorrect payment of taxes beyond the four year limitation is not allowed as
a credit to offset taxes assessed.

11 WTD 67

80-298

NON -- CLAIM PERIOD -- TAX
ASSESSMENT -- DETERMINING AMOUNT OF USE TAX PROPERLY DUE -- OVERPAYMENTS. In
computing the amount of additional use tax "properly due" for a tax
assessment, an auditor must take into consideration all use tax liability and
all payments during the audit period, including double payments or payments
made in error even though the period for claiming a refund for a particular
payment of taxes under82.32.060 may
have passed. Accord: Puget Sound Power & Light, Co v.
State, 70 Wn. 2nd 493, (1967); Contra: Det. 90-175;Dist:Det.No 87-256, WTD
435 (1987) [Analysis the same, but different result]; Dist.81-161A.

17 WTD 278

95-052ER

REFUNDS -- ERRONEOUS WRITTEN
ADVICE -- ESTOPPEL -- RELIANCE.The
doctrine of estoppel will not lightly be invoked against the State to deprive
it of the power to collect taxes.Three elements must be present to create an estoppel:(1) an admission, statement, or act
inconsistent with the claim afterwards asserted, (2) action by the other
party on the faith of such admission, statement, or act, and (3) injury to
such other party resulting from allowing the first party to contradict or
repudiate such admission, statement, or act.Reliance on erroneous advice is thus one of the necessary common law
elements of estoppel

17 WTD 278

95-052ER

REFUNDS -- ERRONEOUS WRITTEN
ADVICE -- RELIANCE --The Taxpayer’s Rights and Responsibilities Act provides
statutory remedies for written misinformation issued by the Department for
taxpayers (1) who have been issued specific erroneous written advice/reporting
instructions, and (2) who have relied on these instructions to their
detriment.Further, taxpayer remedies
consist only of the right to (1) the waiver of interest and penalties on an
assessment, and (2) the waiver, “in certain instances,” of the tax assessment
itself.There is no provision for the
refund of taxes already paid which were not the result of a tax deficiency
assessment.Taxpayer, who was not
issued specific erroneous written advice concerning its airport terminal, and
had clearly not relied on erroneous advice concerning certain of its other
projects, is not entitled to relief under the Act.In any event, a refund of taxes voluntarily
paid is not a remedy under RCW 82.32A.020.

18 WTD 316

98-226

TIMELINESS OF REFUND
REQUEST.When a taxpayer pays taxes
assessed by the Department and subsequently requests a refund of taxes for
the period covered by the tax assessment, the taxpayer will receive a refund
of taxes overpaid during the audit period and beyond the normal four-year
refund period to the extent that the tax assessment over-assessed the “amount
properly due” and the refund request is made within the statutory period
following the payment of the tax assessment.

19 WTD 270

99-159

RETAIL
SALES TAX – COLLECTION OF EXCESSIVE TAX.Where excessive tax is collected, a credit for that Amount may not be
issued absent verification that the excess amount was refunded to the
purchaser.

21 WTD 119

01-085

SALES
TAX – REFUND OF -- STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS – EXTENSION OF -- LIMITATION.Where a taxpayer paid sales tax to vendors
on supplies for which it could have claimed an exemption, the statute of
limitations on its refund claim is, effectively, extended when the taxpayer
pays a tax assessment covering an audit period in which the “overpayment” is
actually made.The amount of any
refund, however, is limited to the amount of the tax assessment.

22 WTD 17

02-0059

RCW
82.32.060: SALES/USE TAX – REFUND REQUEST – ESTOPPEL.A corporation (A) is estopped from seeking
a refund of sales and use taxes paid on machinery and equipment after it
wrote a letter presented by another corporation (B) in a similar refund
request to the Department of Revenue disclaiming any interest in the
machinery and equipment.

22 WTD 131

02-002

B&O TAX – SALES TAX – USE TAX – REFUND -- PETITION –
STATUE OF LIMITATIONS – EXTENSION.A
petition for review requesting a refund of taxes paid must be filed within
four years after the close of the tax year in which the taxes were paid.The Department may not grant an extension
of time to file a petition for review requesting a refund of taxes paid.

22 WTD 249

02-0063R

TAXES PAID LESS THAN OR IN EXCESS OF THOSE PROPERLY DUE --
ASSESSMENT -- REFUND -- Taxes properly due prior to an audit period, but not
paid until the audit period, are not attributable to that audit period for
the purpose of computing "excess" taxes above those properly due
during the audit period for purposes of RCW 82.04.050 and -.060.

22 WTD 262

02-0163

REFUNDS -- B&O TAX -- RETAIL SALES TAXES.When a taxpayer erroneously over-reports
and remits both the retailing B&O and retail sales tax, and then
discovers an exemption or deduction applied, the taxpayer may ask for a
refund of its overpaid B&O taxes without repaying the collected retail
sales tax to its customers and also asking for a refund of the overpaid
retail sales tax.

23 WTD 55

01-075

RETAIL SALES TAX – EXTENTION OF NON-CLAIM PERIOD – EXECUTED
WAIVER.A Taxpayer’s petition for
refund of overpaid taxes was filed timely where the taxpayer filed its refund
request within the extended deadlines of written waivers executed pursuant to
RCW 82.32.050.

23 WTD 83

03-0079

PETITIONS FOR REFUNDS -- ESTOPPEL -- CONDITIONAL REFUNDS.Under Rule 229, when refund requests are
initiated by a petition of a taxpayer, the Taxpayer Account Administration
Division grants a refund on a conditional basis and subject to future field
audit verification.When the Audit
Division later examines taxpayer's records to verify the refund, it is not
estopped from re-assessing taxes properly due if it determines the refunded
amount was improper.

24 WTD 201

04-0196E

REFUNDS
-- INITIATED BY A TAXPAYER -- CONDITIONALLY GRANTED SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION
-- ESTOPPEL. When a refund request is initiated by a taxpayer’s petition,
Rule 229 allows DOR to conditionally grant a refund subject to future field
audit verification.Absent evidence
that the conditional refund request was actually verified by field audit, the
DOR is not estopped from assessing additional taxes owed within the time
limits allowed by RCW 82.32.050.

26 WTD 83

04-0100

RCW 82.32.060:TAX
REFUNDS – NONCLAIM PERIOD.A taxpayer
cannot obtain a refund for tax paid more than four years prior to the year in
which the claim for refund is made, unless the taxpayer has executed a
written waiver consistent with the terms of RCW 82.32.060(2), or unless the
taxpayer seeks a refund of excess tax paid on a deficiency assessment for a
period prior to the statutory four-year refund period and the taxpayer files
a refund claim within four years of paying the deficiency assessment.

27 WTD 119

07-0324E

RCW 82.32.060; Rule 229: REFUNDS
-- ASSIGNMENTS.A
written release from the taxpayer (the purchaser) affirming that any state
tax refund belongs to the Contractor (the seller) acts as an assignment of
any refund, and thereby the Contractor has satisfied the “refund to taxpayer”
requirement of Rule 229(3)(b)(ii).

29 WTD 005

09-0090

01/27/10

Rule 229; RCW 82.32.060: OTHER TOBACCO PRODUCTS TAX – REFUND CLAIM – NONCLAIM STATUTE – SUBSTANTIATION REQUIREMENT. Taxpayer failed to provide the Department of Revenue with invoices supporting the amount of its refund claim. As a result, the Department of Revenue correctly denied taxpayer’s refund request due to its failure to substantiate its claim within the time limits set forth in Rule 229.

29 WTD 024

09-0129

04/29/10

RULE 229; RCW 82.32.170: REFUNDS - APPLICATION – FILED BY
REPRESENTATIVE - AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE - CTIA. If a tax refund application is filed by a taxpayer representative, Rule 229 requires that the representative’s authority to file a refund claim on behalf of the taxpayer must be perfected by filing a Confidential Taxpayer Information Authorization form (CTIA). Where a taxpayer’s representative filed a CTIA within 90 days after the Department first notified taxpayer that substantiating documents were required, the representative’s signature was timely perfected and the refund application deemed valid.

29 WTD 024

09-0129

04/29/10

RULE 229; RCW 82.32.170: REFUNDS – APPLICATION – REASONS
FOR REFUND CLAIM – ADDITIONAL REASONS – UNTIMELY. Where a taxpayer added two different reasons for claiming a refund five months after its original refund application was filed, the additional two reasons were not made within the nonclaim period and therefore ruled untimely.

29 WTD 024

09-0129

04/29/10

RULE 229; RCW 82.32.170: REFUNDS – APPLICATION – APPEAL OF –
DUE DATE FOR SUBSTANTIATING DOCUMENTS – EXTENSION. Where a taxpayer appealed the denial of its original refund application and was sustained upon appeal, the delay caused by the appeal process was held to be for “good cause” and the taxpayer was allowed an extension for submitting substantiating documents.

32 WTD 74

10-0375

06/27/2013

RULE 229; RCW 82.32.170: REFUNDS – SUBSTANTIATION
REQUIREMENT. Rule 229(3)(b)(vii) states that if the Department does not receive the necessary substantiation within the applicable time period, the Department “shall” deny the claim for lack of adequate substantiation. Here, TAA properly denied Taxpayer’s refund claim for lack of substantiation.